Plea Bargaining

News about Plea Bargaining, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Nov. 2, 2012

Supreme Court hears case of Roselva Chaidez, legal resident of Chicago whose lawyer had failed to tell her that guilty plea she entered for insurance fraud in 2003 made her eligible for deportation; decision is hinging over whether 2010 ruling that criminal defense lawyers must warn their clients if deportation could be consequence of guilty plea should apply retroactively to thousands of people whose convictions became final before it was issued. MORE

Nov. 2, 2012

Editorial urges Supreme Court to clearly state that 2010 ruling that lawyers have constitutional duty to inform clients who are not American citizens that pleading guilty could result in deportation, should be applied retroactively. MORE

Oct. 16, 2012

Attempt by New York City Police Officer Admir Kacamakovic to plead guilty to a civil rights violation goes awry when Judge William F Kuntz II of Federal District Court in Brooklyn says actions described in Kacamakovic's allocution failed to meet definition of a criminal act; judge, who granted a recess to allow the allocution to be rewritten, accepts guilty plea when a civil rights violation is properly described by the officer. MORE

Jul. 17, 2012

Editorial welcomes decision by federal judge John Kane to reject a plea bargain deal because it waived the defendant's right to appeal to a higher court; contends that such waivers represent a serious threat to the fairness of the judicial process, and asserts that without an appeals court's policing, the system of pleas then looks more like a system of coercion. MORE

Mar. 23, 2012

News Analysis; Supreme court's decision to affirm a defendant's right to have an effective lawyer during pretrial negotiations is likely to have a profound impact on the administration of justice; legal scholars contend that the rulings are a tacit acknowledgment that the justice system has come to be dominated by plea bargains, which resolve 97 percent of federal cases; rulings also greatly expand the supervisory reach of judges, who may now oversee the bargaining process. MORE

Mar. 23, 2012

Editorial applauds the Supreme Court for strengthening the guarantee of effective counseling for defendants who have rejected a favorable plea offer and go to trial because of ineffective counsel; holds the court has improved American justice by applying the right to effective counsel to the entire plea-bargaining process. MORE

Mar. 22, 2012

Supreme Court rules in a pair of 5-to-4 decisions that criminal defendants have a constitutional right to effective lawyers during plea negotiations; decisions represent a vast expansion of judicial supervision of the criminal justice system, since about 95 percent of criminal convictions arise from guilty pleas. MORE

Nov. 1, 2011

Supreme Court hears arguments in two cases concerning what should be done when criminal defendants pass up favorable plea bargains based on unprofessional work by their lawyers. MORE

Oct. 31, 2011

Supreme Court will hear arguments on two cases which ask how principles concerning a defendant's recourse for bad legal work at trial might apply to plea bargains. MORE

Oct. 31, 2011

Editorial says defendants offered plea deals need effective counsel to ensure that their decisions are well founded and voluntary, not coerced; cites recent case in Missouri in which man pleaded guilty to driving without a license and was sentenced to three years in prison, only to find out later that his counsel had failed to inform him of an offer in which he could have served only ten days. MORE